The Temptations of the Night
by syl3ntshadow
Summary: An unassuming teen wakes from a carriage ride home to be greeted with his life in ruin. Thievery, assassinations, and who is this Dragonborn that purchased his family home less than twenty-four hours after his family was declared dead? Main character is not the Dragonborn. (Rated M for extensive gore and dismemberment)


The sun warming my face confused me. It was not because I haven't felt the sun in a long time or anything. It was because the last thing I could remember before the nightmare was falling asleep in the ebony lined carriage of my parents, on the way back to the mansion in the small town of Ebonvale. Soon after, I felt the cold earth on my back. I tried to remember what happened in the nightmare that had brought me through the night and into the day.

It began with my falling asleep. I woke up a few seconds later to my adoptive mother screaming as a giant's club smashed though the side of the carriage. As the horses neighed in pain and the carriage fell to the ground, the club returned and smashed the bottom. My adoptive father was yelling now; distorted sounds mixed with ringing in my ears. I looked around and saw the carriage driver pull his blade off his back and charge the giant. My mother's arms came around me as another devastating crash hit the carriage. A shrill scream sent me forward. I looked back and saw blood, lots of blood. I fell forward as it poured from my mother's body, coming from the locations where the wood had just impaled her.

I crawled away from her, tears in my eyes. Then the ground shook as my father took to the air from the giant's club. I watched him fall backward and land in a splintered pile made of ebony carriage wheels. He had three prongs piercing his chest and just like my mother, blood poured from his body as his eyes rolled backward. I was crying now, sobbing in grief and fear for my life. It was then that the carriage driver came to me. I couldn't hear a word of what he said but it looked like he was yelling my name just before the club smashed his spine and sent him head first into the heaps of death around the carriage. The nightmare ended there as his foot hit my temple.

The sun was getting hotter now and the air nearby wreaked of death. I opened my eyes slowly to see the scene from the nightmare was not just imagination. The morning sun showed the blurry details of last night to be worse than I had seen while I was asleep. My heart cringed at the sight of my dead adoptive parents bodies lying there in their own blood. I felt the wetness returning to my eyes as I looked at the barely identifiable body of my mother. She held a necklace in her hand, an Amulet of Talos. She was begging for Sovenguard before she died. I dared not look at my father.

My body moved, almost uncontrollably, toward the carriage coach. The spike had split his head down the middle. My hand moved to my mouth as I looked inside his skull. I don't know what took over my body but I moved closer, removing the man's armor and weapon. Maybe it was my mind telling me I couldn't survive with simple clothes in the harsh cold. From what it looked like I was in Whiterun Hold somewhat close to Eastmarch. I looked north and saw the White River that could lead me almost all the way back to Ebonvale, but that wasn't my priority as of now. I turned to face the road leading east. I needed family, and there was but one member of my family left, a mysterious woman living in Riften who named herself after a precious gem when she left our adoptive parents home to chase dreams of riches and revenge.

I slowly started walking down the road toward Riften. The long road passed by quickly as I walked along it. There wasn't much to look at while walking save the Fort Amol, a small, decrepit looking fort just off of the road near Darkwater River. I dared not enter the fort, as it was rumored to be home to a group of mages that killed outsiders on sight

As I continued walking down the road, desperately wanting to Riften to find my older sister, I met a frantic woman that claimed to have escaped from a place down the path. As she described the place she told about a man trapped just inside the East tower and hoped that I would avoid the danger of the road ahead in fear of getting captured by the bandits that lived there. I smiled at the challenge and the desire to wipe any group of bandits off the face of Tamriel that I could. They were why my sister and I had to deal with Grelod the Kind in the first place. My blade and armor desired the wetness of the blood of the evil.

My feet picked up speed slowly as if driven by the desire dwelling deep inside my bones for revenge and destruction. My face twists slowly into anger as I rush forward. The memories of my birth parents death flash as I run, faster and faster down the path toward the bandits' home of Mistwatch. Blood spattered farm house, slaughtered pigs in the front yard, several men with long blades, more blood, then darkness. The scene replayed over and over and over again as I charge into the courtyard. Four guards suddenly alert due to the sounds of my approach. I didn't care about silence. The bandits didn't when they skinned my parents in front of me. I dove by blade strait though the first bandit as he came close. The pressure of resistance from his organs felt all too good to me. The other three stopped and stared for a moment as the blood sprayed from the man.

"What the hell? Is that a kid!?" one of the Mistwatch bandits yelled to the other two. I turned toward the noise, turned the blade in the dead bandit's chest and sliced though the remaining dead tissue of the man. A satisfying sound of dead meat landing in dirt met my ears as I raised my blade to charge once again.

"Don't take him lightly! Look in his eyes; they are the eyes of a killer! Stop him befo..." The man began as my sword cut into his neck from the right. I pushed, hearing the satisfying tortured scream from the man as the blade severed his head. Blood spat from the neck as he fell. A puddle of blood began at my feet as I swung the blade to remove some of the blood. Remaining completely silent I faced toward the remaining two. The man and woman had the same face of horror as I began walking slowly toward them. White hair stained with red, blue eyes filled with hate, and armor that looked as if it had been through hell and back would have been the last thing they could remember. As the two dropped, I contemplated what people's last thought before they died was. Was it the look of their killer's form, or maybe was it their loved ones that they wouldn't have gotten to say goodbye to one last time.

I didn't regret killing them. It was all in the plan for vengeance. Bandits were easy targets, but from what I could tell, their armor was not the same as the bandits that killed my parents. Maybe I stopped some family from being torn apart by these people. Maybe I stopped a rapist before he could victimize a passerby. Either way, the world was better off without these scums. I pushed through the door to the first tower and let out a breath and heard the voice of a man calling.

"Hey, who's there?" The voice called. I paused, wondering who would be blatantly stupid enough to call out his from a location like this to a stranger who could or could not be a bandit himself. "You, over here quick. Before any of them show up." I continued to stall, not knowing what to think of the man as I walked slowly closer to his voice. "Please stranger, I need your help!" It was then that I finally decided to head over to him. "Stendarr's mercy – you aren't one of them. Please you've got to help me!"

"What is going on?" I questioned, knowing that if I said anything else he would more than likely turn hostile thinking I was a bandit.

"It's my wife, Fjola. I think she is being held in this tower." The man replied.

"Calm down. Just tell me what happened." I replied.

"I'm sorry, I'm just... you're right. Let me explain. Fjola, my wife, left the farm on errands and never came back. It's been months, and I've been searching for her since. I heard a rumor that these bandits were ransoming captives, so I thought she may be here. I managed to sneak past the guards and get this far, but... I don't think I can go on. I'm no warrior! Please, can you look for her?" The man stated. I smiled and looked around the tower, the bandits I killed outside weren't that hard and I could easily eliminate more of them. I did however need to question the man's sources.

"You're sure she's being held here?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. But I've looked all over and the kidnappings here started around when she disappeared. So I have to hope..." He confessed. I sighed but looked at the man. He was pitiful and was desperate for some aid.

"Very well. I'll look for her," was the only thing I could say. Sure I could have refused but I wanted to eliminate the bandits anyway. I turned away to begin climbing the tower.

"Thank you! I don't have much, but I can give you some coin for the trouble. One of the guards dropped this key while I hid. I wager it will come in handy for you. Please hurry!" He handed me the key to the tower and I pocketed it and began the climb up the tower to slay the bandits and free the man's wife from their hold.

The tower was as riddled with guards as an imperial prison. By the time I reached the door I felt like blood was a second skin. I heard the distant rumble of thunder and thanked the Eight that I would be clean before I made it to Riften. I unlocked the door and kicked it nearly clean off the hinge before I entered the room.

As I entered the room I saw a woman in steel plate armor sitting in a chair across the room. As she saw me I heard a low growl. She stood and crossed the small room to me, she removed her helmet and her face twisted into a snarl as she looked down at me.

"All right, snowback. Who are you and what are you doing in my tower? I saw her tense up and reach for her blade as she spoke.

"I've come here to find a woman named Fjola, where are you keeping her?"

"Fjola? How do you know that name?" She growled back. I could hear the surprise in her voice.

"Her husband Christer said she was here. He sent me to find her."

"Christer? He's here?" she paused to sigh, her face no longer twisted in anger. "The fool's my husband. I'm Fjola – or I was once. Don't you see? I left that old scab. Came to Skyrim, and found this rabble of bandits. Didn't take much to prove myself and knock them into shape. Now every free sword from here to Windhelm wants to sign for a piece.

"Your story, it is not something I would call normal. Actually, it's very unusual," was all I could say to the woman. I didn't feel for her, but I knew that she was not the murderer of my parents.

"And it won't end here. I'd die before I went back."

Anger boiled inside of me. I knew there was no reasoning with the woman to stop. I didn't want her life to be the same as it was for the bandits that killed my parents. I clenched my fists and looked her in the eyes.

"This is pointless. I should just kill you and be done with it." I growled. She smiled and pulled her blade the same time I did. My blade was blood soaked and waiting for more death; her dwarven blade was shined and polished, more than likely not even used often.

"Better men have tried. Let's finish this!" She took the first move, swinging hard toward my blade. I blocked quickly, my blade larger but still moved as fast as hers. I blocked and pushed forward, sending her back.

My next move was a lot more elaborate than any attacks on the weaker bandits. I lunged, struck her blade hard, sending it to the side as my blade moved in a full circle and cut into her shoulder. She howled in pain as the blood splattered across the floor. She recovered with a roll, it was clumsy and she landed on her wounded shoulder. Panting and defeated she laid there before me.

"Do you worse mercenary! I have fought hard and you have bested me. End it quickly please." She coughed and a little blood came out. Her hand trembled and quivered, looking like it was going to reach for her dwarven long sword. It was then that I remembered how merciless the bandits that killed my birth parents were; sympathy filled my body as I pulled away from her.

"Leave here now. Your husband is down stairs. This is your only chance." I set the blade onto my back and held a hand out for her. She eagerly grabbed for it and stood up, holding her blade in her hand. A wicked smile graced her bloodied lips as she tried to swing once more.

Anger replaced the sympathy as I hit her in the chest, sending her back a few feet, just enough time to pull my blade and sent it in a graceful arc into her neck. It flew through the air in a beautifully grotesque flip as the blood fell. Her body dropped like dead weight once it was no longer attached to the brain. I cleaned the blade on her clothes as I walked out of the door. The sunlight blinded me for a moment as I adjusted to the brightness once more.

Her husband was less of a problem as the wife. Once I told him of her death he flew at me with a petty iron dagger and tried to cut into my blood soaked steel armor. I watched his futile attempt for just a moment before I threw him from the keep. He banged on the door for about five minutes, begging for a chance to best me in combat after my murder of her wife. I waited in silence, replaying the dark scenes of my adopted parent's demise as I waited for him. It was my fuel to keep going, without it I would have given up as soon as I had started.

Once the knocking stopped I waited a few minutes more before passing into the falling snow outside. The yard was covered in bloody snow as it soaked into the snow sticking onto the ground. I needed to hurry and get to Riften before the snow fell to hard. I started at a mild jog though the snow covered path leading from the tower to Riften with no more trouble until I made it to the gate itself.

"Hey you, you have to pay the tax to get into Riften little one. Where are you parents so that we can charge them for the family entry fee of one hundred and twenty Septims." The gateman spoke as he blocked the gate. I could hear something off in his voice as he spoke. I waited for a moment, not knowing what to say until a hand landed on my shoulder.

"He doesn't have to pay, he's with me." The voice of a woman spoke as the guard stood up straighter now. He quickly unlocked the gate.

"Right this way Sapphire, sorry for any inconvenience I have caused." The man's voice was even more nervous this time as he returned to his post. I entered, following the woman inside.

"Little brother, how've you been? What brings you to Riften without your parents?" Sapphire spoke as I followed. She stopped at a bridge and looked back at my face as she waited for my silence to end and give her the answer. "Oh gods no. Not again Damien. I am so sorry."


End file.
